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Anonymous hacks Westboro Baptists during live interview

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Denizens of Anonymous defaced a website run by the Westboro Baptist Church on Thursday during a live radio interview.

An ongoing spat between the controversial church of GodHatesFags fame and the loosely knit hacking collective began last weekend with a message threatening hacks against websites that, depending on who you believe, was posted either by the Church itself or a faction of Anonymous. Another faction of Anonymous distanced itself from the plan, categorising Westboro Baptist Church as trolls looking for attention.

Whatever the origins of the row, WBC's site has been subject to ongoing attacks over recent days, and the topic served as suitable fodder for an item on the David Pakman show. A member of Anonymous faced off against Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Anon said the supposed threat against WBC came from "nowhere" and didn't match its writing style. He said attacks against WBC sites were the work of Jester. Phelps-Roper, who kept interrupting the Anon member, said everyone for Anonymous was going to hell. After eight minutes into the interview the Anon member posted its own statement on downloads.westborobaptistchurch.com.

The statement, headed "This domain has been seized by Anonymous under section #14 of the rules of the Internet", derides the Church for attempting to "goad" Anonymous into attacking it for describing them as "crybaby hackers". The statement went on to say Anonymous had bigger fish to fry, such as campaigns involving Libya and managing the fallout from its hack against HBGary.

"Take this defacement as a simple warning: go away," the statement (screenshot here) concludes. "The world (including Anonymous) disagrees with your hateful messages, but you have the right to voice them. This does not mean you can jump onto Anonymous for attention."

Watching the duo square up was akin to watching two wrestlers trash talk each other prior to a carefully orchestrated fight, as can be seen from a video clip from the Pakman show below.

Phelps-Roper, probably like the wider Westboro Baptist Church, seems to revel in being "persecuted" while both she and the rep of Anon more or less admitted that they were enjoying the media attention brought about by the ongoing spat. ®